Computer Allocations

While
Hope College's Department of Computing and Information Technology
(CIT) strives to be an enabling resource in the use of technology
for academic study, office productivity, and other areas of
college life, there occasionally comes a time when expectations
and limits must be set in the form of policy.

It is not the intention
of CIT to develop and enforce policies to bureaucratically
offend and limit the people it serves; rather, these policies
exist to ensure reliable, secure and fair technology solutions
continue at Hope College.

Therefore, as you read the
policy statement below, please keep in mind that its intention
in the larger scope is to maintain an excellent technology
infrastructure and not to limit creativity, academic freedom,
or other appropriate and welcomed activities.

Introduction:

Because technology requests normally outnumber funds available,
it is important that they be evaluated against each other so that
priorities can be properly understood. While a rolling request process
would be ideal, it is impractical when requests exceed funds available.
Therefore, the college uses a semi-rolling process to ensure that
requests are quickly and fairly evaluated and approved. Under this
system, the time from request to installation should range from six
to eight weeks.

Computer Requests:

Requests are routed from individual faculty or staff member to department
chair or director to divisional head (Dean or Vice President). Requests
are evaluated jointly by divisional head and the Director of Computing,
and approved, denied, or deferred according to justification and
funds available.

General timelines for requests are as follows (exact due dates are
set by divisional head each year):

Arts, International Ed

October

Natural Sciences

November

Social Sciences

January

Humanities, Libraries, Archives

March

Administrative Departments (not reporting to Provost)

April

New Faculty, Registrar, Provost

June

Before divisional heads set exact due dates for requests, approximate
budgets will be set to provide an idea of the amount of money available.
Department chairs or directors are strongly encouraged to meet with
CIT staff to discuss technology strategies and determine accurate
budget amounts for requests. These strategies (justification) and
budget amounts should be included in detail in the requests.

Notes

The Standard Computer:

Due to the rapid change in computer development, it is impossible
to define a standard computer in lasting detail. However, CIT establishes
a standard several times a year. This standard computer is capable
of meeting the personal productivity needs of faculty and staff.
These needs generally include word processing, spreadsheet, e-mail,
WWW, and other software along with sufficient excess capacity to
meet expansion for the next several years. If a faculty or staff
member needs more capacity than this standard allows, he/she must
either request additional funds or supply them from departmental,
divisional, or grant funds. These additional expenditures must be
approved by the divisional head and Director of Computing.

Computers for New Faculty:

New tenure-track faculty receive a new standard computer package,
and are expected to use the departmental laser printer or local draft-quality
printer. Any costs above the cost of the standard package are to
be paid for by departmental and/or divisional funds, with approval
from the division head and Director of Computing.

New term-appointed faculty are given the best available equipment,
as determined by the divisional head and Director of Computing. It
is important to request equipment as soon as a term-appointed faculty
member is hired.

Computers which were used by departing faculty are reallocated according
to the decision made by the divisional head and Director of Computing.
These computers do not necessarily remain in the same department
or division.

Computers for New Staff:

New staff are expected to use the computer left by their predecessor.
In the event that the new staff member is filling a newly-created
position, it is up the department director to make a new computer
request to his/her division head.

Sabbatical and Library Carrels:

Faculty on sabbatical and/or using a Library carrel are expected
to leave their office computer for their replacement, unless other
arrangements are made.

Using Departmental Funds to Purchase Technology Equipment:

For technology hardware (computers, fax machines, printers, etc.)
purchases over $200, approval from the division head and the Director
of Computing is required.

Advance Approval:

If it is necessary to purchase a computer outside of the normal
timeline, the following procedure is to be followed:

The request be made in writing to the divisional head, with a copy
to the Director of Computing.

If approved, the department purchase the computer out of their own
or divisional resources.
This purchase be consider a "loan" of funds to be repaid at the normal
request time, when other divisional decisions are made

At the normal request time, the department list the computer need
that was purchased early as top priority request for computers (if
not then the "loan" would not be repaid).